Booking.com review: never give your credit card details to booking.com 235

That's like someone hijacking a plane that you are on and the travel agent or airline being responsible.

We have recently returned from a trip to Europe. We made most of our booking through Booking.com. Since arriving home all the credit cards used through this site have been used fraudulently. This has cause immense inconvenience. We also tried to book hotels in Vietnam and cancelled within a few minutes as the hotel could not accommodate all of our party and we were charged straight away for a cancellation fee.

I booked a hostel in Vietnam thru booking.com. Their website said my credit card would not be charged and I was to pay at the time of stay. However, it was charged. Contacting booking.com they said it was a holding charge that would be released shortly after my stay, and to pay the hostel. Subsequently I find out it is an actual charge on my card so I have been double charged. Never use bookng.com because they will compromise your credit card details. They are scammers.

I reserved via booking. com twice, and i got a problem twice.

Problem 1 : I reserved a hotel before 4 months, and i received the confirmation mail from Bakers Hotel (126 Warwick Way, Victoria, SW1V 4JA, LONDRES / LONDON) . One weekend before i called the hotel to inform our presence and they told us and they cancelled. So we look for another one in the last minute. :(

PROBLEM 2 : I reserved in COLVIN HOUSE (COLVIN HOUSE : 1 Colvin Road, East Ham, Newham London, E6 1JJ United Kingdom) . Once we arrived there, they told us that they didn't have no room available in their hotel. He noticed that they were aged people with me, so I had to accept another room without having any choice. That hotel was located in another place and that belongs to the same boss. . staff very poorly polished. So be careful. We 4 hours to have one room for a room already paid.

Regards

We've been stung twice by Booking.com. Both times cancelling a hotel well in advance under the free cancellation policy. The first time we were charged even after cancelling and Booking .com refused to help saying it was nothing to do with them and telling us to deal with the hotel directly. We had a 3 month battle on our hands with the hotel and I'm sure that we only got the money back because of our constant phone calls. We would have tried to get the money back through Visa but as the Visa statement came 3-4 weeks later (which was when we realised we'd been charged) and then the hotel kept promising they would sort it, so we ran out of time to pursue the money that way. The second time we were charged after cancelling, at least Booking.com accepted some responsibility and after about 3 weeks did give us our money back- no reason or apology was made though even though this was the second time it had happened. If I ever use them again and then have to cancel, I will personally call the hotel involved to check that the reservation has definitely been cancelled and will request written proof. I will be very surprised if I do use them though and I warn other people about the problems. I was unaware about the credit card security issues which is also extremely worrying.

How absurb is this. I just made a booking via booking.com. And i received SMS notification from my bank notifing me that i made 2 transaction for some bogus GBP and EURO amount. Called my bank immediately and ask which vendor was those from: Omega Travel & Air tickets limited. WHAT!? was THAT?!
The minute i gave my credit card details to booking.com, and 2 UNAUTHORIZED/FRAUD transaction appear on my credit card.
WHAT IS HAPPENING BOOKING.COM! WHY is your payment website SO unsecured?

Exactly the reason I never use credit card, always use paypal and always pay up front in site or in hotel. Booking.com is good but prices are bit too much esp with so many new and good around (used scoobybook.com last time no problems at all)

I had a reservation for 5 days in Hotel Vel Marina for 372 euros It has been cancelled by the Hotel because they don't make reservations shorter than 6 days.Booking.com rang me and offered a stay in a different hotel that had the price of 520 euros.They said that they will cover all the difference and I will be refunded during my stay, after I will send them an invoice.I sent off an invoice 8 days ago. also I sent a few emails in the last few days and I got no answer.I paid for my stay when I arrived to hotel like we agreed, so booking.com should do the same and refund my money quick like we agreed.When I paid to booking.com and I had some questions about it, they respond was quick but when I needed to be refunded after when I paid they didn't reply and they still haven't .I sent a few emails, l am looking for another possibility to contact with booking.com that's why I am posting here because I got no reply on my emails .I spent too much time for this.It should take up to 24 hours for them to reply my emails.So if someone from the Booking.com customer service can see this, can you fix my problem please :)

This from an other hoteliers point of view

Do not book with booking.com. We are a small family run roadside motel with only four rooms. How hard is it to keep track of only four room. Well, with booking.com they make it almost impossible. This past weekend alone we had 7 overbooking one night and 11 on the Saturday night. How is it if our site on booking.com states we only have four rooms they keep booking even if sold out? Also we have problems using their site. They blame the problems on the hotelier. When we have blocked out rooms our self for weddings or local families they unblock the rooms to keep selling.

Booking.com is the worst company to deal with, they only promote the negative reviews. How is it we are trying to remove our information, or site is closed for booking, but we are getting more and more negative reviews? Now the reviews clearly out way the number of nights booking.com has booked us. Plus the number of no show is higher then 70%. We have lost a lot of room revenue from these guys. We also only rate our rooms as a two, as we feel they are up to date and clean, with little services. Booking.com then turns around and try to sell you as a four. We are only a road side hotel not the holiday inn.

Poor Poor Site stay far away from these crooks. As an hotelier, call the hotel and talk with them about their rates. There is always wiggle room on the rack rate. They not only take your money but steal and try and disstory your business when you want to terminate business with them.

I have made the reservation of rooms for 12 at Murren, Switzerland, and made a cancellation via booking.com application on my Iphone 5. It had shown that the cancellation is now completed, but actually it’s not. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that the process was not completed, since booking.com application had shown that it was done. Then the hotel charged me full amount.

Call & Email the hotel in Switzerland (Eiger swiss quality, Alpenblick) : they say they don't care and they are entitled to the money. Even partial refund request from us they ignore it. Ohh by the way they even said that they check with other hotel in Murren and they all agree that they did the correct thing not to refund anything to us. Thumb up Murren folks !

Call & Email booking.com: They say the money is at hotel and they can talk to them for us but nothing they cannot do.

The amount we are charged is 4000 USD by the way. Congratulate you guys and your family for the free money from us. I really do.

Booking .com is a giant monopoly whose aim is to control the market completely and turn the whole business of hotel booking into one great lie. They are aggressive towards hotels which resent the type of clients they send and which they do not filter and accept anonymous complaints from people sent by competitors top damage the image of other hotels. It is one of the typically modern, robotic services that no sophisticated or professional traveller should ever use. The promote those who give them no problems and block those hotels with statements like "no availability" to try and ruin them. They also encourage other agencies to do the same. They also charge an unacceptably high commission rate which is pushing hotel prices up and therefore do not provide the consumer with anything other than lies and eventually cause those who rely on them to collapse. Best way of booking is to find out which hotels are in the area you want to travel to - bring up their web pages and talk directly to them via email or phone. You will without doubt be closer to getting a good deal and know exactly where you are going to live in.

Still you are the booking agent. Your site says free cancellation. I am contacting the BBB of NY, Attorney General of NY and Small claims court . DONT NOT BOOK WITH THIS SITE.

I to am a victim of Booking.com. I booked a hotel room for Germany and found out that the Hotel is not so good. So within an hour I asked to cancel and now they are putting me through the system . Mind you I would be going in late Sept so thier is ample time to cancel .I may be out of 900 dollars . I now have to cancel my AMEX card due to the fact of what I am reading on this site. What a shame . Any other reptuable company would say no problem, i.e, Expedia, Hotels.Com .Not this company plus the customer service was very rude. Saying there is nothing they can do . DO NOT BOOK WITH THIS COMPANY.

Recently, I have also experienced something bad with Booking.com. They have provided a wrong hotel address and so I couldn't find it and I tried to call to the hotel but they were hopeless. At the end I had to look for another hotel in the middle of the night and they still charged me the cancellation fees on my credit card!

Afterwards, I mailed Booking.com about the incorrect information they give on their website.
What their response is just irresponsible!

"The accommodations themselves are responsible for all the information provided to you"
"Once the accommodation has confirmed the reservation it then becomes their responsibility to accommodate the guests."
"However, we are not located in the same country as this property therefore, the accommodations themselves are responsible for all the information provided to you. "

So what booking.com do is take your credit card details and just pass it to the hotels and if anything goes wrong, they just said it's not their responsibility!

From a hotelier point of view:
1) it is not safe to receive the credit card details of the customer via fax
2) we have experiences where the guest makes a non-refundable booking (literally meaning there is no refund if you cancel or you do not show up) and the rate is always a lot lower than the refundable rates. Booking.com send us the credit card details of the guest for this booking, and we do an offline charge as this is a non-refundable booking. The guest did not show up on the day of arrival. A week later, we get a complaint from our bank that the guest bank had disputed the charges, as the cardholder said he did not authorise this transaction. Booking.com does not take responsibility, and we, the hotel lost a room night revenue as we hold the room for this guest. How can the bank protect both the credit card holder and the establishment? Do we need the cardholder to sign an authorisation note everytime they use the card online?
3) if one were to book an air-ticket online, get charged for it, don't show up and then dispute the charges... what happens?

I am really sorry I did not see this site before I booked two hotels from booking.com yesterday. I have used them earlier and have never had any problems. It was clearly stated that the credit card details would only be used as a guarantee and I would not be charged until the arrival at the hotel or as a no-show if I would not cancel in time. Now I see on my account that both of the hotels have charged me on the same day as I booked but they are booked for October-November so I wanted to be able to cancel them if I find something else in the meantime. I really do not feel comfortable that the hotels have my credit card details.

I also was ripped off by Booking .com i called to make resurvations for a hotel in Kodax tenn and could not go so i called Booking.com and also the hotel and they said that they would take care of it and it was canceled but a week later the money was taken out of my account since they had my credit card number i am very upset because i dont think they did there job ian i am paying for it i have always used this company but never again

Never, Never, Never use HotelsOne.com or eurobookings.com! These people made a reservation for me that I that was rather high. I called the hotel to double check and found that I had been charged nearly double the actual room rate. I called eurobookings.com-HotelsOne back within 15 minutes at told them to cancel my reservation because of this. They flat refused and said in was a non-refundable reservation.
The hotel tried to cancel this reservation and they were not allowed to do this. These are crooked websites just looking to steal your money. Yes, at least my Credit Card Co says that if it shows up on my bill to call them back and make it a disputed charge.

Hi, I booked a room in your hotel on 4th March 2014 but had to cancel later since I could not get a travel visa. My booking number is [protected]. However yesterday my card was debited with $813.34. I am utterly disappointed since my account at booking.com clearly shows I have cancelled the reservation. I contacted booking.com and they promised to get in touch. Could you kindly look into this and refund my money back. Waiting urgently for your response. Kind regards

Tnx booking.com
After making complaint from above situation, booking reacted promptly. They reported that they contacted owner and after that emailed me that I can expect money return.
and...money was back in my account in few days, so... :)!

I want to make sure that it is very important to see whether or not his is something that is going to improve in many way.

Booking.com have no control over what happens to your credit card details once they pass the details to the hotel. Once your credit card details arrive at the hotel there is nothing to stop someone noting down these details and scamming your credit card.

I am a hotel owner AND use Booking.com for my own personal holidays so can see them from two sides of the fence. Firstly, the public and pretty stupid and naive when booking a hotel. They don't ad the details or term and conditions in enough detail. People think Booking.com will charge them...this is incorrect...it is always the hotel that charges them. The hotel will at sometime get their hand on your credit cards details if you like it or not. Even if you book with a pre-paid agent like lastminute.com, the hotel will still demand a credit card for security when you check-in.
But...seeing as Booking.com pass on the credit card details to the hotel, why not save yourself time and money and just book directly. Our hotel offers better booking conditions and cheaper rates if you book directly. Most hotels also do the same. Plus if we ever have a problem with a booking we just fob the customer off and tell them to contact booking.com (I.e. we wash our hands of the situation so we don't have to deal with an irate guest). But if the person booked direct with us first, we would have to take full responsibility and resolve any possible problems ourselves which always results in a better outcome for the customer.

Unfortunately, I have the same experience.
I booked hotel in Rome for 2 nights. Lady from BB Piccollo imperiale mailed me with the story that for the 1st night I had to stay at other place because booking made a mistake with dates.She offered transfer to her accommodation free of charge. My problem was that I don't want to move in the middle of the stay(I had some plans which are not important), but I say ok, those accommodation are closed. I wasn't on email for a while, now I cancelled accommodation (in time and received e mail) and I was checking her last mail in which she said that she get the money from my credit card!?because that accommodation is upgrade and they ask her for money for reservation.
I don't know how to call this - booking gives my credit card number to someone and the third person has access to my money? Where is the invoice and my confirmation?
I will look for my money everywhere but they are obviosuly so big and hotel managers found out their system as excellent way to get money from people with no service and that's because of us stupid and slow (or maybe made on purpose) booking system.
all I know that I feel unsecure and I'll have special card for on line payment but never aging for bookin.com

I am writing regarding a booking which I cancelled on the 25th of March. I was informed if I cancelled my booking before the 29th then I would not be charged. However I have just checked my bank and have been charged 150GBP. I double checked that the cancellation went through as the booking disappeared but now when I look it is still there and is coming up with 'no show' .T here is obviously a glitch in your system and after reading forums I see I am not the only person this has happened to. I am requesting a full refund for the inconvenience this has caused and an explanation what has happened. Can you please check your systems why my cancellation worked then has magically reappeared again? Also I am not happy that my booking is not secure and that you have passed my bank account details over when I expected the payment was being made through booking.com. I am seeking legal aid from my brother in law who is willing to also contact watchdog and various other companies making them aware of what has happened. I am awaiting your response and the refund. Thankyou

Sorry EVERYONE this first post was in 2012 its now 2014 and they are still doing the same thing! I booked with BOOKING.com who only charge on the day you stay when you give them credit card. HOWEVER I ALSO CANCELLED well in time with them via their website on the little emailer box that opens up I sent the message . they say they cant find it ...so they dont notify the hotel so the hotel obviously charges us, when i rang booking.com SEVERAL times they pass the book to the hotels but its because they did not notify them its a glitch in their site. Or just palin ignorance

I HAVE HAD THE SAME EXPERIENCE I CANCELLED VIA THEIR WEBSITE ON THE LITTLE OPENING BOX TO SEND THEM AN EMAIL AND THEY SAYING THEY NEVER RECIEVED IT? ONCE IT WENT IT SAYS SENT. THEN THEY ASKED ME HAD I GOT A SNAPSHOT OF THE EMAIL? i SAID WHY WOULD I TAKE A PICTURE OF AN EMAIL SENDING TO YOU ASKING YOU TO CANCEL I JUST TRUSTED THAT YOU RECIEVED MY EMAIL .THEY JUST FOB YOU OFF OR BLAME IT ON THE HOTEL OR WHOEVER YOU BOOKED WITH DONT GO WITH BOOKING.COM

I used booking.com for a hotel in Istanbul, I canceled it within the free cancellation period and I did not notice whether I received a confirmation or not.
I was charged by the hotel and booking.com says they can do nothing because I cannot prove I canceled. One of the CR hang off the phone when I am still explaining the my case.
CR told me to settle this with the hotel. The hotel, claims that they never received my cancellation.
I had done nothing wrong but choosing the wrong agent.
Booking.com, I will never use it again, and of course, I'll make sure my friends won't use it again from now on.

Irresponsible Website!
I had used Booking.com to book hotels in Europe for my coming vacation.
However, several days later, my credit card details got exposed and been used in violation for online transactions for 1, 400 USD. Fortunately, the VISA card office has noticed me about it and rejected the transaction in time. I realized it must be problem of booking.com.So I called their customer service in China, the woman who's name is Ning Jing claimed to be the supervisor of the called center was really rude and spoke in a very arrogant way, said they have no responsibility and never ever try to resolved my concerns. The worst, she said she doesn't care that I lodged any complain about her rude altitude, because she is the supervisor then cut off my phone.
Her rudeness irritated me a lot.The low standard of service disappointed me a lot!
I don't understand how come a large international company provided such poor and suck customer service and acting so irresponsible!
I will never ever use this website again and would love to warn everyone, booking via this website is putting ur privacy at risk!

I think the booking reference is ([protected])it was the 12 Inn, in Pattaya. the bank did refund the money, however I booked this hotel as they wanted paid in advance by paypal, and as I had been the victim of credit card fraud 3 months earlier in a different bank, then this suited me, and said they did not accept credit cards, clearly this would be their excuse when they were asked about fraud. I now cannot book anything through a 3rd party anymore, as I have to lessen the risk of it happening again

I booked a hotel in Pattaya, Thailand and someone ran up a bill to Apple store for nearly £250, the bank eventually refunded me the money but thats not the point, some hotel owner/employee got away with robbing me and i wont be using booking.com again, they clearly gave the hotel all the information to commit the fraud

i booked a hotel in Thailand for December and 2 weeks later someone ran up a bill to apple for nearly £250, the bank refunded the money but thats not the point, some ### in thailand got off with the fraud

Teste

Everyone ignore the post about Frank Beckles. He's a scammer with a rather extensive history of lying. He's now getting outted in every thread he tries starting here about himself so he's obviously taken to posting his lies in completely unrelated threads with the hope of hiding them. The "article" he's posted above is a fabrication; it is a butchering of an article in favour of Frank Roberson, with whom Frank Beckles has a beef.

If you want a good laugh at Frank's expense, have a look at the following to see just how pathetic he is:
http://www.misfit-studios.com/downloads/Beckles.zip or http://www.youtube.com/trustrum

My apologies for largely being responsible for driving this guy into other people's unrelated threads.

Yes I do confirm the bad policy of Booking com. In December 2012 I booked from abroad by booking.com the hotel in Eindhoven (Netherlands) for January 21, two overnights and have given a credit card number the name of a holder expiry date and cvv number only to secure the transaction. At the hotel I payed by cash. It was a card which i have not used for years, kept in the drawer. In October 1st somebody fraudulently have used four times my card buyng goods in VD Amsterdam and Omoda Zerikzee and stolen nearly 2000 euros. I claimed transactions in my bank but aldo have sent an e-mail to booking.com. They gently asked me for details. When I send details by e-mail there was no answer the only what i got was a decision from booking com that I have 10% reductions for further transactions. And I wonder if this reduction is worth of a cleaning out of my account in future by fraudulent use of my ceedit card?

BOOKING.COM --highway robbery!

I made a reservation with them for a hotel in Israel (Ritz Hotel in jerusalem) and was told I could cancel up to five days before if I had to. In fact, due to health problems, I had to cancel FIFTEEN DAYS BEFORE the date I would have gone to the hotel.

I cancelled through BOOKING.COM and they confirmed the cancellation.

However, I was very surprised and upset when I saw the Hotel had debited the total amount of US$ 1, 340 for the ten days i did not use the hotel, and their answer is that I had made A NON-REFUNDABLE reservation! Of course, Booking says this is not their responsibility but when they ask for the Credit Card number, they assure you that it will not be charged before your arrive at the hotel!

How can I defend my rights? It is very easy to close a deal with a client by assuring there will be no problem to cancel but then the hotel has the guts to charge right away, once the reservation is made! I hope this helps people to avoid falling into such traps.

astrid@greatstart.com.br

Hello Andrea,
my booking number is [protected].

I used booking.com for a hotel in NY, I canceled it and never receive a confirmation. As I have never used it before, I though it was ok. My mistake, I was charged by the hotel and booking.com says they can do nothing because I cannot prove I canceled. Furthermore, they told me to resolve it with the hotel, that will probably do nothing, because they probably never received my cancelation. Booking.com, never more again, and I'll make sure people around me don't fall in their ###!

I have the same experience. I booked Hotel Du Square for 2 days with pre charge 1 day. But the hotel charge me full day. I am disappointed with this and cancel my booking with no cancellation fee, but the charge still in my credit card. I sent email and call to hotel customer service, but no respons. Then I complain to Booking.com and they promise to fix this problem. After ten days they sent me a link to refund my credit card. After I fill my credit card number and waiting for 3 days. My Money has come back. Thanks to Booking.com and becareful to Hotel Du Square.

I also cancel my book to West Side Inn Hotel Amsterdam with the transaction in my credit card. But after I contact to hotel customer service, they delete the transaction immediately. Good customer service.

We reacently booked through your site to a premire inn the price we agreed with you was not the price we had to pay we ended up paying for a extra breakfast which was surpossed to be inclued on the booking on arrival to the hotel they informed us u had only booked for one adult and one child but we booked two adults and two children which we printed off on the comformation form so we r not happy at all and will not be booking with u again unless something is sorted please get back to me as i have got both prices of paper the booking form and the piece of paper that we ended up paying